My OS Is Open Source - An Ubuntu and Linux Quiz

Are you sick of ads comparing Macs and Windows-based personal computers? Do you try to convince friends and family that there are other choices out there? Are you an open-source evangelist? Take our quiz and find out how much you know about Linux and Ubuntu!

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Question 1 of 20

Who spearheaded the project to create the Ubuntu operating system?

Steve Wozniak

Linus Torvalds

Mark Shuttleworth

Entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth assembled a team of developers to create the Linux distribution called Ubuntu.

Question 2 of 20

What type of computer sparked Linus Torvalds' interest in computers when he was a kid?

Apple II

Commodore Vic-20

Torvalds credits the Commodore Vic-20 for getting him interested in computers.

TI 99/4A

Question 3 of 20

Which operating system did Torvalds learn about in college that inspired him to make his own?

DOS

AmigaOS

Unix

Torvalds hadn't even heard of Unix before his second year of college but quickly learned to appreciate the operating system's design.

Question 4 of 20

What operating system did Torvalds set out to improve before he decided to build Linux?

Unix

MINIX

Torvalds installed MINIX on his own PC, but found it lacking in several areas. He decided to try and improve the OS before coming to the conclusion that it made more sense to design his own operating system, which he called Linux.

Xenix

Question 5 of 20

What is the GPL?

GNU Public License

The GPL is the GNU Public License, which allows you to publish software in a way that lets users share and modify the code of that software.

The word Ubuntu comes from South Africa and refers to the way people make allegiances and relationships with each other.

Kenya

Uganda

Question 16 of 20

If Ubuntu is free, how does Canonical Ltd. make money?

Only the first year of use is free. After that you must pay to keep Ubuntu.

The company exists purely on private investment and venture capital.

The company provides professional support to Ubuntu users.

Canonical charges a small fee for professional support of Ubuntu. The company also makes money for large organization or corporate installations.

Question 17 of 20

What is the name of the suite of productivity software preinstalled on Ubuntu?

OfficeFree

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an open-source approach to productivity software. You can open, edit and save documents from several other productivity software suites in LibreOffice.

OfficeMaximal

Question 18 of 20

What is the name for the desktop interface software in Ubuntu?

DWARF

Antelope

Unity

Up until Natty Narwhal, the default interface for the desktop was called GNOME. But these days Ubuntu sports the Unity desktop interface, which supports multitouch and 3-D applications.

Question 19 of 20

According to Web Technology Surveys, what percentage of Web servers were running Ubuntu as of February 2011?

4 percent

Though it doesn't sound like much, the 4 percent share that Ubuntu has on Web servers is significant. The share nearly doubled over the course of a year and Ubuntu is the 4th most popular Linux distribution on Web servers.

15 percent

35 percent

Question 20 of 20

What is the Ubuntu Foundation?

a charity organization

a fund designed to support Ubuntu

The Ubuntu Foundation, which launched with a $10 million investment, provides financial support for Ubuntu in the event Canonical Ltd. stops funding the operating system.